The Bikwil subtitle says it all, of course. 

Bikwil celebrates quiet enthusiasms, where "quiet" implies subtlety, restraint, minimum hype, while "enthusiasm" has its usual meaning of any pursuit or interest that beguiles us.  A crucial corollary of the Bikwilian approach concerns our avoidance of negativity.  What we emphasise here is involvement that is mainly "positive towards . . ." and "in praise of . . .". 

Bikwil first saw the light of day in Sydney in May 1997 as a "newsletter".  Although the idea of a magazine was that of editor Tony Rogers, in a way its genesis had actually occurred a few years earlier among a group of like-minded souls.  They were talking over lunch and the phrase "small dinosaur" got coined to convey the meaning "we are small creatures who enjoy waxing passionate on topics of value that most of the modern world appears to deem 'old-fashioned' or even 'extinct'". 

Tony and several other compatible types were soon recruited into this proto-society of neo-Mesozoic iconoplasts.  Many conversations later, Bikwil came into being as a free publication, with the aim of sharing our enthusiasms with a wider community.

At the time of Bikwil's appearance there were a mere handful of contributors involved, and just over a dozen readers, all of them friends or associates of the small dinosaurs.  By September 1997, with our third issue, the number of pages had grown, as had the number of readers on the permanent mailing list.  The latter increase was due entirely to word-of-mouth publicity.  From then there was no turning back.

As our third year approached, however, the costs of producing a free magazine were becoming prohibitive, so with the agreement of the ever-faithful readership a nominal subscription was levied.

Despite the advent of its Web site, in print Bikwil today retains much of its former appearance: 24 handy-sized A5 pages, printed in glorious black-and-white.

Invitation to Contribute

Content in Bikwil can best be expressed in terms of its raison d'être.  To date, we've had poems and essays paying tribute to all manner of people, places and things, we've had funny stories and verse, we've had trivia and jokes.  We've had love poems, nature poems, nostalgia poems.  We've had art.  We've had quirky quotations.  We've had puzzles and quizzes. 

Not unexpectedly, several themes recur, as listed below.

As you'll have gathered, then, just about anything can be the topic a contributor might feel moved to enthuse quietly about.  Yes, except as set out below, there are no restrictions at all.  Mind you, Bikwil being a place to be constructive, we ask that, if you have an axe to grind, please sharpen it on the whetstone of affirmation.

And should you be currently suffering from writer's block, contributing to Bikwil might well be the cure.  If you like, just share with us, in your own words, about how you got started in your hobby or leisure pursuit.  Or draw or photograph for us a picture of some aspect of it.

In short, then, you are all cordially encouraged to submit essays, poems, short fiction, line drawings or photos, book/movie/TV/music reviews, etc.  Apart from trivia and jokes, anything submitted must be original, though the use of a nom de plume is permitted.  To avoid the possibility of duplication or rejection, we suggest that, before submitting your masterpieces, you might email Bikwil with an outline of your idea. 

In its printed version a Bikwil page runs to about 350 words, and by means of layout we make sure each feature occupies an integral number of such pages.

Submissions on PC disk or via email are welcome in any format that is compatible with Microsoft Word.

For those among you who may be thinking of contributing, here are some ideas for themes: 

Perhaps you might like to play a part in the following occasional series.  To get more of a feeling for them, take a look at the Series Catalogue page.

If you have checked out our Catalogues, you will already appreciate that Bikwil's audience is nothing if not literate.  Not everyone will be expert in your field, however, so please bear this in mind when you write.

We regret that at present financial constraints prevent us from paying authors.  Not without dramatically increasing the subscription price, that is.  Still, this hasn't prevented our keen contributors so far.

Copyright Matters

© 1997-2007.  All contributions published in Bikwil are protected by international copyright laws and remain the property of their respective authors.  They are placed on the Web for your personal use only.  Any other use without the express consent of its owner(s) is forbidden.  For permissions please contact Bikwil in the first instance, describing the use to which you wish to put the material.

Restrictions

While a wide variety of contributions is welcome (positively expressed, naturally), no gratuitously obscene matter will be published, nor any material deemed libellous or racially or religiously offensive.  The editor reserves the right to modify slightly any submission, either for space saving purposes or in order to correct typographical or spelling errors.

Contributors as Subscribers

We should make clear than any contributor having a piece accepted for publication in Bikwil is expected to become a registered subscriber — if only to the electronic version, which is free.  See the separate how-to-subscribe page for details.

It's possible that you think Bikwil has a disappointingly different look from what you're used to elsewhere on the World Wide Web.  This is no accident, but has been carefully thought out in advance.  In keeping with our aims and "small dinosaur" origins (not to mention our primarily text-based orientation), we're quite happy to leave the flashy glitz (and the advertising) to other sites while we keep our own emphasis on substantive, compelling and entertaining content — for those who like reading.  Indeed, at Bikwil we strive to encourage writing that belongs in the "worth re-reading" category rather than in the throwaway bin.

At the same time, we want to ensure that this, your favourite neck of the Web, remains presentable, easy to read and convenient to navigate.  In terms of "look", then, this means that you may be confident of 

plenty of internal links to allow you to find your way through our site, good spelling and grammar,  subdued colours . . . and, above all,  ample "white space" around the text.

If all that weren't enough, we also provide you with features that allow you to print out whole issues of Bikwil in an attractive format, so that you can read them at your leisure.

So if you're miffed by Bikwil's apparently "retro" Web style, we're sorry, but our thinking is simply intended to put the accent on meat and not on feathers.

If you feel strongly either way, why not email us?

For the record, the Bikwil site was designed by Tony Rogers, using Frontpage 2000 and 2002 and some extra Javascript code.  It works best in Netscape 4 or later and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or later.

Bikwil, The Magazine of Quiet Enthusiasms, ISSN 1328-7842
Editor: Tony Rogers
Email Address: tony@bikwil.com
Snail Mail Address: Bikwil, 18 Pembury Ave., North Rocks, NSW 2151, Australia.

[ * In former times the colophon was the inscription at the end of a book or manuscript which contained the title, the scribe's or printer's name, the date and place of printing, and so on.  In other words, the imprint information, now found on the verso of a book's title page. ]